political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
Friday, December 26, 2008
Spitting Image: A Job Has Been Created in Doncaster
Remember in the 1980s when ITN on a Friday used to detail all the job losses that week? It infuriated the Thatcher government. I wonder if they are thinking of reinstituting it.
This used to infuriate me as well. Only MAJOR job gains and losses counted - 10,000 new jobs in modern hi-tech industies spread over 200 companies would be ignored, whilst the 2,000 lost when a single engineering company went bust went into the figures. Even using this distorted criteria the figures were starting to look positive by the mid 1980's and ITN then suspiciously dropped the feature.
7 comments:
This used to infuriate me as well. Only MAJOR job gains and losses counted - 10,000 new jobs in modern hi-tech industies spread over 200 companies would be ignored, whilst the 2,000 lost when a single engineering company went bust went into the figures. Even using this distorted criteria the figures were starting to look positive by the mid 1980's and ITN then suspiciously dropped the feature.
Feature no longer available.
Sir Robin - the two words GOOD and NEWS are a contradiction in terms.
Alan Douglas
wv don' l' hear - precisely !
Those were TORY job losses Iain, whereas Labour job losses are a clever structural re-ordering of the economy masterminded by the Great Leader...
haha :P I can only imagine the satirical media having a very good year in 2009.
It is one of my favourite sketches along with Hesletine explaining the sinking of the Belgrano outside the exclusion zone.
Just wish we still had comedy like this today
They've already been doing it, Iain, haven't you been watching?
Mark Austin has been reading out job losses for weeks now.
I think they already did bring it back
Post a Comment